General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Up 1.3% – Here’s What Happened

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s share price shot up 1.3% on Friday . The company traded as high as $166.94 and last traded at $166.92. 1,769,431 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 6,120,716 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.80.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Melius Research raised their price objective on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.93.

General Electric Stock Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average price is $177.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $172.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market cap of $182.23 billion, a PE ratio of 29.59, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.02 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 19.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total value of $1,267,910.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,289 shares in the company, valued at $2,407,036.57. This trade represents a 34.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total transaction of $2,772,409.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. This trade represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in General Electric by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,181,801,000 after acquiring an additional 898,296 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in General Electric by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,587,961 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,244,676,000 after acquiring an additional 156,272 shares during the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new stake in General Electric in the 2nd quarter worth $2,613,332,000. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in General Electric by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,405,731 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,336,257,000 after acquiring an additional 459,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in General Electric by 91.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,771,759 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,465,598,000 after acquiring an additional 3,719,894 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

General Electric Company Profile

General Electric Company, doing business as GE Aerospace, designs and produces commercial and defense aircraft engines, integrated engine components, electric power, and mechanical aircraft systems. It also offers aftermarket services to support its products. The company operates in the United States, Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa.